Heat pumps are commonly used for providing heating or cooling to buildings, i.e. HVAC applications, due to their relatively low running costs and friendliness to the environment. Development has for several years been trending towards many households and business buildings switching from aging more expensive HVAC systems to a heat pump based system, such that the heat pump alone provides the heating or complements the older system.
Heat pumps use refrigeration cycles in which a refrigerant is used for collecting and delivering heat. The heat pumps may be reversible, i.e. the condenser and the evaporator may switch functionality.
Air source heat pumps generally comprise an outdoor unit. A known problem with this unit is that it generates a lot of condensate, and as development leads to more efficient heat pumps, even more condensate is produced. Many heat pumps lack a built in solution for taking care of the condensate, and therefore rely on external trays which are fitted below the heat pump. These are however sensitive to freezing of the condensate and to debris such as leaves clogging the outlet of the tray.